A circuit includes a monitoring circuit that monitors a voltage and a switching circuit. Closing the switching circuit causes an external AC load to receive power from an external AC source. The circuit further includes a control circuit that opens the switching circuit for a time interval, where the time interval begins after the voltage is below a lower threshold. The control circuit also ends the time interval after the voltage exceeds an upper threshold, where the time interval is short enough that the operation of the AC load is not affected during the time interval. The circuit also includes a power harvesting circuit that harvests power from the external AC source to raise the voltage during the time interval.

A system for a plurality of thermostats each located in a different building in a neighborhood. Each thermostat includes a processing circuit configured to receive one or more assigned operating time slots from an analytics service and operate building equipment associated with the thermostat based on the one or more assigned operating time slots. The system further includes the analytics service. The analytics service includes a processing circuit configured to receive weather forecast data from a weather service and predict a period of time during which an energy usage peak will occur for the plurality of buildings based on the weather forecast data, determine the one or more operating time slots based on the period of time, assign the one or more operating time slots to each of the plurality of thermostats, and send the one or more assigned operating time slots to the plurality of thermostats.

A control method for an air outlet device includes: a target environmental pattern selected by a user from multiple preset environmental patterns is determined; a target environmental parameter corresponding to the target environmental pattern is determined; and the air outlet device is controlled to supply air according to the target environmental parameter.

A system and associated methods of operation for regulating an environmental variable (such as ambient room temperature) within a target zone. The system includes an occupancy sensor configured to monitor the target zone and determine a number of inhabitants present within the zone. The occupancy sensor generates an occupancy signal communicating the number of detected inhabitants to an environmental control system. Upon receiving the occupancy signal, the environmental control system regulates an environmental variable within the zone based on the number of inhabitants present in the zone.

Techniques are described for providing remote device (e.g., thermostat, lighting, appliance, etc.) control and/or energy monitoring. A system monitors sensor data captured by one or more sensors that sense attributes relevant to user presence at one or more monitored properties and status of one or more energy consuming devices associated with the one or more monitored properties. The system analyzes the monitored sensor data and the monitored device status with respect to a set of one or more rules and performs an operation related to controlling the one or more energy consuming devices based on the analysis of the monitored sensor data and the monitored device status with respect to the set of one or more rules.

An adaptable climate control method for controlling a thermal climate within a confined space based on thermal and/or physiological features of one or more occupants of the confined space is provided. The method includes receiving thermal images of a plurality of target areas from the occupants, identifying a plurality of interesting points of the received thermal images, and isolating the interesting points to construct thermal maps of the target areas. Thermal features of the occupants are determined using the respective thermal maps and the thermal features are used to construct thermal feature vectors for the occupants. Physiological features from physiological sensors can also be added as elements of the thermal feature vectors to form integrated vectors. The thermal feature vectors and/or integrated vectors are classified using a classifiers and at least a portion of the thermal climate of the confined space is adjusted based on the classification of the vectors.

A radiation receiving sensor includes an infrared receiver including a plurality of infrared receiving devices that receive infrared radiation, a lens that allows infrared radiation to enter the infrared receiver, a rotator that rotates the infrared receiver and the lens about a part of the lens, and a cover member that faces the infrared receiver through the lens and that has translucency.

Perception of the relationship between a comfort level and environmental data is facilitated, and appropriate management of air-conditioning equipment is enabled. A comfort level display apparatus has a preference storage unit to store a preference of a user regarding an air-conditioned environment, an attribute storage unit to store an attribute of the user, an environmental data value acquisition unit to acquire an environmental data value representing a condition in an air-conditioned space, a comfort level value generation unit to generate a comfort level value indicating comfort of the user in the air-conditioned space, based on the preference of the user stored the preference storage unit, the attribute of the user stored in the attribute storage unit, and the environmental data value of the air-conditioned space acquired by the environmental data value acquisition unit, a display data generation unit to generate display data by synthesizing the comfort level value of the user generated by the comfort level value generation unit and the environmental data value of the air-conditioned space acquired by the environmental data value acquisition unit, and a display unit to display the display data.

A warmth calculation apparatus capable of indicating warmth during a transition is provided. This warmth calculation apparatus includes: a calculator that, on the basis of a human body heat model simulating a human body, calculates a basic index indicating the warm sensation of parts of the human body under inputted environmental conditions; and a corrector that corrects the basic index utilizing, as a correction element, a heat transfer amount caused by blood flow of the human body heat model.

The present disclosure relates to a heating, ventilation, and/or air conditioning (HVAC) system including a controller configured to detect a presence of an occupant in a zone of a plurality of zones. The controller is also configured to determine a priority level of the occupant and control operation of the HVAC system to prioritize supply of conditioned air to the zone of the plurality of zones over remaining zones of the plurality of zones based on the priority level of the occupant.